"The general feeling is that he won't be traded," an anonymous GM told ESPN's Peter Gammons. "The Phillies are the only reasonable expectation, but the way [the NL East] has folded, they know they're going to win the division."
According to Gammons, both the Red Sox and Yankees are nothing more than pretenders in the Doc Halladay sweepstakes, stating:
"General manager J.P. Ricciardi said Sunday that he doesn't think things will heat up on the Halladay front until the end of this week. Ricciardi made it clear to the Yankees and Red Sox that he would have to get a lot more from them than a National League team, and, right now, it is unlikely that either the Yankees or the Red Sox will stay in it."
So it appears that the Sox won't pick up arguably the MLB's best pitcher — but neither will the Yankees. It's a good argument that Boston doesn't even need Doc as it owns one of the league's deepest arsenals in the bigs. The Red Sox also own the second-lowest ERA in the AL at 4.05 and have struck out an AL-most 693 batters through 91 games.
However, don't expect the BoSox to remain completely quiet when the trade winds start swirling, especially if a good bat is out there. Gammons explains:
"Boston probably has to get a bat before the July 31 trade deadline passes. A's GM Billy Beane will move Matt Holliday (he's pushing hard for a trade involving Orlando Cabrera in order to get Cliff Pennington up and playing shortstop for Oakland), but he may not be a fit for Boston unless Bay were to leave as a free agent. Nick Johnson is available, but is also a health risk. Alex Rios and Victor Martinez are discussion points for several teams, as is Jorge Cantu. Considering Boston's young pitching and the Padres' lack of it (although 21-year-old right-hander Mat Latos threw 96 mph Sunday), a multi-prospect deal for Adrian Gonzalez makes sense for both teams. The Padres' ownership is worried about the public perception if the team were to trade away Gonzalez."
